Rheas at Tir na n'Og

Rheas at Tir na n'Og

Many changes have taken place at Tir na n'Og over the past couple of years,and perhaps one of the really exciting additions has been the introduction of Rheas to the land.

These beautiful, graceful and supremely agile birds originate in South America and are similar to Ostriches and Emus, being flightless, although they are quite a bit smaller than ostrich and emu and do not need the keeper to have a wild animal license as do ostrich and emu.

Our rheas are very gentle and inquisitive, flock around us at feeding time and readily take food from our hands. They run in small flocks and the males sit on the nest and rear the chicks. This is a fascinating process to watch, the male scoops out a hollow in the ground as his nest then a most interesting ritual takes place. He sort of dances around the female, snapping his beak in the air with a lot of very graceful head and neck waving and this encourages her to lay her egg. Once her egg is laid he rolls it into his nest and sends her away. Once he has enough eggs in his nest he then goes on to hatch and rear them.

Since each female is capable of laying around 40 eggs per season it is necessary to run several males in a group. We currently have 7 beautiful silver grey females running with 2 males. This seems to be a fairly good balance. We also have 3 white females running with 1 male, we feel this is about right but they are quite young yet, only in their second year and it appears that Gwynn, our big butch white male is a little inexperienced so it seems that next year will see the arrival of our white chicks. The silver greys are laying prolifically so we have some beautiful silver grey chicks for sale now and 2 incubators full - an abundance of beautiful new life. Our chicks remain with us until they are between 8 --12 weeks old so we can be sure they are fit and well before they move on.

These birds are delightful creatures, graceful, gentle and fascinating to watch. They are very easy to care for and once they are full grown - around 12 months they can be left out in the field at night, there is no danger from the fox when they are grown. They are hardy and adapt well to our climate, they don't even use a shelter at night but prefer to sleep under the trees or in the open. Of course as chicks we shut them in at night as they are vulnerable to predators. Ordinary stock proof fencing keeps them in and they are very economical to keep. For smallholders they are perfect as the chicks seem to sell well and of course with each female laying up to 40 eggs per season the profit margin is very good. Some people breed them for their meat which I am told is likened to fillet steak with very low fat and low cholesterol, there is plenty of information about this on the internet and because of the low fat, low cholesterol benefits I believe there is a market out there. Many people buy them simply to grace their grounds as they are delightful to watch. A very curious thing is that during the breeding season the males make a kind of deep booming sound, its almost like a vibration, I have never heard anything like it, its amazing.

We have silver greys and whites. The whites sell for a little more than the greys as there are not so many around. They are beautiful with amazing blue eyes. I actually think the silver greys are prettier as there is a lot of colour variation in their feathers and their markings can be quite stunning. Obviously this is personal preference. Their feathers are fabulous and craft people are always after them. Also the eggs are very large and a beautiful yellow colour (literally the golden egg). Again craft people are very keen to buy the eggs blown for decorating.

We currently have silver grey chicks available at £80 each and the whites when available will be £100. If you are interested or would like to know more about this fascinating bird please feel free to call Suzannah or Mike..... 01458 860186.